Page Type:
|
Route |
|---|---|
Lat/Lon:
|
49.68602°N / 123.13493°W |
Route Type:
|
Trad Climbing |
|
Time Required:
|
Half a day |
|
Rock Difficulty:
|
5.11b (YDS) |
|
Number of Pitches:
|
14 |
|
Grade:
|
IV |
|
Overview
The Falcon sounds more daunting than it actually is: 14 pitches, only four under 5.10, with three going at 5.11. What it is: a nice variety of trad and sport, face and crack, bolted belays and an easy walk-off from the top. Beware the sting-in-the-tail however: The last pitch is the crux and it is HARD for the grade.Getting There
From the north end of the Chief parking lot, head up the trail to the base of the Grand Wall. Head left, look for the Rutabaga crack, a well-chalked 5.10 finger crack splitting the wall. To the right, follow ramps up into a tree-choked corner.Route Description
P1. Climb a ramp, yarding on trees until you reach a 5.8 chimney. Climb same and top out on a pedestal. 5.8P2. Follow th 5.10c finger crack to the right (straight up is 10d). 10c.
P3. Climb a finger crack, moving left through a hard move. Follow a dyke and be ready for some more hard moves to the belay. 10d.
P4. Bolted arete. Harder than it looks. 5.11.
P5. Another chimney. 5.8.
P6. Up a corner to a ledge and belay. Move left through the forest. 5.9.
P7. Find the bolted anchor in the woods. An off-the-deck crux to a mantle and foot rail to the left. 10d.
P8. A short but burly layback up a corner to a tree, yard on same to the belay. 10d.
P9. Move right, clip bolts. 5.9.
P10. Crack and bolts to the Bellygood Ledge. 10b.
P11. Follow the ledge to the left for 75 feet to a line of bolts. Climb same. 10a.
P12. Bolts up and to the left. 10c.
P13. Move left. The first line of bolts you see is 10b. The next one is the route. Off-balanced face climbing leads to a tricky roof and then some hard slab climbing. Possible to cheat if need be by pulling on draws. 11a.
P14. Climb a dyke to the right, then continue to the left. There's a belay if you want to split the pitch in two. Or continue up the bolted dyke to the right. BEWARE: this is the crux of the route, slippery, technical climbing that you can't pull through on draws. This pitch is definitely hard for the grade.
Descent: Move right and up until you can pick up the Chief descent trail.